Knife To A Gunfight: Shank

It was PAX last week. And no, we weren't out there, because by an unfortunate coincidence the RPS personal helicopter was in the shop having its napalm missiles upgraded, hence we had no way to reach Seattle. What we could do, at least, is Observe From Afar, like sinister gaming perverts. We're good at the watching-but-not-doing thing. For instance, here's a fairly undocumented wee game that appeared there. It's called Shank, it's a side-scrolling third person action thinger, and it's quite incredibly violent.

Its creators Klei Entertainment, who you may know of thanks to indie break-out hit Eets, are so taken with their own game that they're even having an action figure of the titular hard-nut made. I don't think I could honestly say he seems a memorable enough character to warrant an action figure, but I can sympathise with the pride of getting such a thing made.

More importantly, here's in-game footage of Shank. It looks incredibly shallow and stupid, but clearly that's the point. It's the man-stabbing equivalent of Alien/Zombie Shooter in a way. It's also very Alien Hominid, but hey, it's been a while. What it's really got going for it is the cinematic presentation - a crapton of distinct combos/attacks and some artful silhouetting.

More details at the official site/blog.